(8 HOURS)
Full day excursion and recommended for guests staying at the resorts of Tunis and Gammarth, Hammamet and Sousse and Port Kantaoui.
Those who like the Roman archeology can’t be in Tunisia without wanting to spend a day in the most preserved and largest Roman site of North Africa: Dougga then stop at the vast and fertile Thuburbo Majus.
Places to visit:
- DOUGGA(UNESCO)
Thugga, Thugges or Thugenses is the so called Dougga today.
Without a doubt, Dougga today is the most preserved and largest Roman site in North Africa. Extensive excavations started in the late 19th century by the French and carried on until 1997 when the archeological site became a UNESCO world heritage thanks to the large number of inscriptions found on the site and are a huge reference and documentation to the specialists.
Originally Dougga was the royal residence of one of the greatest Numidian kings of North Africa: Massinissa.
The luxury and the size of the monuments are the witness of the wealth such as: the theatre, the forum, the capital, the market, the baths, the tripholium house, the private homes and the latrines.
The Lybico-Punic mausoleum, the original Numidian roads and the way of building (opus africanus) witness the Numidian architecture and are considered to be one of the finest examples referring to that era in the world.
- THUBURBO MAJUS
In 1857 French diplomat Charles-Joseph Tissot came to the conclusion that the ruins he visited at Henchir lagsab, thirty miles south of Tunis, were those of Thuburbo Majus.
Henchir is an Arabic word meaning « farm with ruins » and the discovery of seven ancient Roman towns was facilitated by their ruins being referred to as henchir. The 1895 Murray’s Handbook for travelers in Algeria and Tunisia made reference to Thuburbo Minus, an ancient Roman town in the Mejrada River valley, but ignored the existence of Thuburbo Majus, because at the time the site was yet to be excavated.
The monuments to visit on the site today are: the forum, the capital, the winter bath, the summer bath, the olive press, the temple of Baal and several private homes with the original mosaics still in place.
